Handle-fastening wedge.



T. HOOKER. HANDLE FASTENING WEDGE.

APPLICATION FILED MAR; 10 1908.

959,862: Patented May 31,1910.

i feiwas'ses.

UNITED STATES PATENT @FETCE.

THOMAS HOOKER, OF SYRACUSE, NEW YORK.

HANDLE-FASTENING WEDGE.

b all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, THOMAS HOOKER, of Syracuse, in the county ofOnondaga, in the State of New York, have invented new and usefulImprovements in Handle-Fastening 'Wedges, of which the following, takenin connection with the accompanying drawings, is a full, clear, andexact description.

This invention relates to certain improvements in handle fasteningwedges comprising any metallic fastening member adapted to be driveninto wood and to clench itself by the mere act of driving thereinto forretaining two or more parts together such for example as a screw driveror similar tool or a hammer and a suitable wood handle although the sameinvention is equally useful as a substitute for the usual nails andpossesses the additional feature of clenching itself when driven intothe wood.

My main object is to provide a furcatcd shank with specially formedprongs or tines capable of cutting or wedging their way into the woodunder driving pressure and also capable of expanding or spreading apartat their free ends so as to be selfclenching while being driventhereinto without liability of unduly splitting the wood.

Other specific objects relating to specific structural features of theinvention will be brought out in the following description.

In the drawingsFigure l is an elevation partly in section of a hammerand a portion of its handle showing my improved fastening wedge asdriven into the end of the handle in the socket or eye of the hammer toretain the hammer on the handle. Fig. 2 is a cross-sectional view takenon line 22 of Fig. 1. Figs. 3 and 4 are opposite face views of thefastening, one of the arms in Fig. 4: being partly broken away.

The fastening as shown in the drawings is illustrated as being employedfor securing a hammer handle in the socket of the hammer, and itconsists of a furcated member comprising a U-shaped bar V-shaped incross section, and bent or closed upon itself with the sharp or V-shapededges normally in close contact, forming opposite prongs or arms 10having the inner faces of their extremities beveled both longitudinallyand transversely, forming beveled V-shaped cutting edges 11. The opposedprongs or arms 10 constitute a self clenching fastening Specification ofLetters Patent.

Application filed March 10, 1908.

Patented May 31, 1910.

Serial N0. 420,244.

which is driven into one end of awooden handle 4. The beveled V-shapedcutting edges 11 of the fastening are triangular in contour andtriangular in cross-section and having the opposite faces thereofbeveled outwardly, with the apex of the triangle in continuity with theapex of the prongs or arms. WVhen the fastening is driven into a handleor like device, it will be observed that the V-shaped ends of thefastening constitute wedging ends which when driven into the woodoperate to deflect or spread apart the free ends of the prongs by impactwith the wood of the handle, so that the fastening when driven home inthe handle has its prongs or arms spread apart as illustrated in Fig. lof the drawings and acts as a wedge to spread the wood of the handlefirmly against the wall of the eye or hammer socket. The apexes of theprongs or arms being adjacent each other, and extending substantiallythroughout the length of said arms, the prongs or arms are rendered moreor less pliable or bendable, and separable when driven into the wood,and the sharp edge of the wedge being presented to the wood at theclosed end of the fastening, the latter is easily driven into the end ofthe handle so as not to project beyond the latter, as shown in Fig. 1 ofthe drawings. The triangular prongs having their apexes presented to thewood, cut their way across the fiber of the wood, the compression of thefiber being at the back of the prongs so as to hold the latter againstundue spreading and thus avoid danger of the prongs or arms breakingtheir junction with each other. The meeting edges of the prongs beingsharp and normally close together, they naturally have a tendency whendriven into the wood to partially cut and partially wedge their ownchannels, and the free ends of the prongs beveled or V-shape incrosssection form knife edges which tend to cut their way into the woodand to simultaneously but gradually spread the prongs or arms apartunder driving pressure, and avoiding any appreciable thickness of woodbetween and at the bases of the prongs, thus tending to furthermaterially decrease lia bility of the prongs breaking at their junction.

That I claim is:

A handle fastening wedge formed of a bar triangular in cross sectiondoubled upon itself to form two parallel equal length the triangle inContinuity with the apex of arms the bar being doubled so that the thearms. 10 apexes of the triangle abut throughout the In Witness whereof Ihave hereunto set length of the arms, the free ends of said my hand this7th day of March 1908.

.'- arms being pointed, the pointed ends being THOMAS HOOKER.

triangular 1n contour and triangular in "W1tnesses: cross-sect1on andhaving the opposite faces 1 H. E. CHASE,

thereof beveled outwardly with the apex of G. M. NIOCORMAGK.

